[Expression and prognostic value of IL-6 and β-catenin in oral squamous cell carcinoma]

To investigate the expression of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and β-catenin in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and its clinicopathological significance.

The serum IL-6 concentration in 110 OSCC patients and 109 healthy controls were determined by chemiluminescence analysis. IL-6 and β-catenin expression levels in 68 tumor specimens of OSCC patients undergoing surgical treatment and 6 normal mucosal tissues were determined by immunohistochemistry method. The correlation between IL-6 and β-catenin and clinicopathological parameters and their prognostic value were analyzed. SPSS 22.0 software package was used for data analysis.

Chemiluminescence method showed that the serum IL-6 content of OSCC patients was significantly increased (P＜0.001). Immunohistochemical results demonstrated that high expression of IL-6 in OSCC tissues was remarkably associated with cervical lymph node metastasis(P=0.017), pathological differentiation(P=0.014), recurrence and distant metastasis (P=0.048). OSCC patients with high IL-6 expression showed a poor prognosis by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that high expression of IL-6 was an independent risk factor affecting the prognosis of patients with OSCC(P＜0.05). β-catenin hyperexpression was associated with pathological differentiation(P=0.006) and overall poor survival in OSCC patients. Spearman correlation analysis showed a positive correlation between IL-6 and β-catenin expression in OSCC (P＜0.001).

Serum IL-6 is expected to be a biomarker for detection of OSCC, and IL-6 and β-catenin expression in tumour tissues can be used as markers to evaluate the poor prognosis of OSCC.